Moistening device



Aug. 13, 1940. B. BORLAND 2,211,555

MOISTENING DEVICE Filed April 25, 1938 Patented Aug. 13, 1940 UNITED STATE MOISTENING DEVICE Bruce Borland, Chicago, Ill.

Application April 25, 1938', Serial No. 204,143

3 Claims.

This invention relates to moisteners or devices intended for use for sealing envelopes, moistening stamps, or the like.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a moistening device which will be simple in construction whereby it may be made at a moderate cost; which will bei pleasing in appearance and effective in use.

Other objects are to provide a moistener having a convex upper surface with a moistening ball or float projecting upwardly through a hole in such surface whereby the surface will provide a guide for drawing the sealing flaps or the like over the moistening element; to provide a moistener having a substantial base with a dome a10- plied thereto for receiving the water and the float or moistening member, which member projects out through an opening in the top of the dome; and to provide such other novel features and improvements as will appear more fully from the following specification.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating this invention,

Fig. l is a perspective view showing a preferred form of my moistener and -illustrating the operation thereof; y

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View; and

Fig, 3 is a plan view of the base with the dome orreceptacle removed.

As shown in the drawing the moistener has a substantial Ibase 5 which is preferably made of metal and is sufficiently heavy to hold the moistener imposition while being used. The base has a peripheral groove 6 in the upper surface for receiving the lower edge of the dome or receptacle 'I. The outer periphery of the engaging edge is preferably approximately the same as the diameter of the outer wall of the groove 6 and these parts are preferably secured together by expanding the base and shrinking the same over the domel In addition to such shrink or forced fit I prefer to provide an additional sealing by the use of any suitable cement or the like, around the joint as shown at 8. The top of the dome or receptacle I has a hole 9 through which projects a relatively small segmental portion IIJ of a moistening element II, which element preferably comprises a loat ball formed of cork, hollow rubber, or the like, which will float in the water I2 in the receptacle. This water may be inserted through the opening 9 and a suflicient amount is kept in the moistener to hold the float in projected or closing position as shown in Fig. 2. When in this position the hole 9 will be kept (Cl. lll-51) closed which will prevent undue evaporation of the water.

An upwardly projecting ring or wall I3 is formed in the base 5 around the center portion which tends to hold the ball II centrally in the container when the water is low or-when the ball is in depressed position. This prevents possible pinching or holding of the ball between the base and the top which might occur if the ball were wedged between these members.

When the container is supplied with water aS shown in Fig. 2, a small segment of the ball will 4project out through the hole 9 so that when the flap I4 of the envelope or other article to be moistenedis drawn over the upper surface of the moistener the ball will be slightly depressed and will be rotated to present freely moistened` surfaces to the mucilage or the like on the flap in order to yproperly moisten the same. The edges of the hole act as Scrapers and tend to prevent an undue amount of moisture from being presented to the ball or float and to prevent moisture from being discharged over the outer surface of the container or body portion.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention it will be apparent that changes may be made in the form thereof and in the details of construction without departing from the scope yof the invention, and therefore I do not wish to be limited to the precise form shown and described except as specified in the following claims, in which I claim:

1. A moistening device comprising a base having a peripheral groove therein, an inverted cupshaped member having its; lower edge fitting closely within the groove to fasten the same to the base, means for sealing the joint between the cup-shaped member and the base, said cupshaped member having a hole in the upper 'convex portion thereof, a float of larger diameter than the hole positioned within the cup-shaped member and being adapted to present a portion of the `surface thereof through the hole when in raised position, and an upwardly extending annular ridge around the center of the base to hold the float centrally with respect to the base.

2. A new article of manufacture, comprising a reservoir adapted to hold water and having a substantially spherical apex portion with a smooth outer surface which serves as aguide for drawing articles to be moistened, such as envelopes or the like, thereover, and having a hole at the apex, an applicator ball which will float in the water and which is of much smaller radius than the radius of said surface, and lof substansaid cup-shaped member having a hole in the upper convex portion thereof, a spherical oat of larger diameter than the hole positioned Within the cup-shaped member and presenting a portion of the surface thereof through the hole when in raised position, said convex upper portion pro- Viding a guide for guiding envelopes or the like over the float to be moistened thereby, as

described.

BRUCE BORLAND. 

